CONFIRMED: NIH-Ecohealth Spent Taxpayer $ on Gain-of-Function Animal Experiments in Wuhan Lab

Posted by Amanda Nieves
22 October 2021 | Blog



For months, officials at the NIH have denied ever funding dangerous gain-of-function experiments at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

In May, soon-to-be-retired NIH Director (and longtime animal experimentation advocate) Dr. Francis Collins said “We absolutely did not fund gain of function research in Wuhan.”

The same week, Director of NIAID (and gain-of-function enthusiast) Dr. Anthony Fauci said “the NIH has not ever and does not now fund gain-of-function research in the Wuhan Institute of Virology.”

Despite the media’s effort to run cover for Drs. Fauci and Collins, the hapless duo’s claims have been unraveling for months.

This week, the NIH changed its tune, and finally confirmed what we’ve been saying for a long time: shady nonprofit EcoHealth Alliance DID perform GoF experiments in Wuhan.

In a letter to Congressman James Comer (R-KY), the NIH describes EcoHealth Alliance’s experiments at WIV, which tested whether “spike proteins from naturally occurring bat coronaviruses circulating in China were capable of binding to the human ACE2 receptor in a mouse model.”

The NIH knew these experiments were dangerous, and “out of an abundance of caution” had placed guardrails on EHA’s proposed experiments, requiring them to report their findings immediately if they discovered an “increase in growth” of the viruses they studied.

To no one’s surprise, EcoHealth ignored these very important safeguards — the same way they ignored Congressional requests for information.

Of course, this isn’t the first time EHA has ignored the law.

In March, we caught them red-handed in violation of federal spending transparency laws, so we filed a complaint with the NIH.

In April, Senator (and Waste Warrior) Joni Ernst (R-IA) and WCW President Anthony Bellotti explained EHA’s dangerous disregard for the law in Newsweek:

Since then, the Inspector General of HHS has announced an “extensive audit” of NIH grants and grantees…including EHA.

The results should be very interesting.

EcoHealth Alliance is not above the law — regardless of what they think. Congress is getting so sick of their shenanigans that the House and Senate have both voted to defund them.

And, just as Congress doesn’t want to be lied to, Americans are sick and tired of not getting answers. That’s why 75% of taxpayers want EHA to be subpoenaed by Congress.

Even though it’s rewarding to hear that we were right all along, EcoHealth Alliance is only part of the problem. The other part is the Wuhan Institute of Virology…which should NOT receive one red cent of your tax money.

Urge your Members of Congress to cosponsor the Defund the Wuhan Institute of Virology Act, and permanently prohibit taxpayer funding for this dangerous and cruel lab!

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“Hell is empty & all the devils are here” – William Shakespreare
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” – Edmund Burke

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